What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?

[Fake Messiah]

Christian fascists keep sayin this country was founded on the Bible meanwhile Benjamin Franklin was publishing recipes for at-home abortions in Poor Richard's Almanac.

[Fake Messiah]

168,811,352 Americans can't even read to an eighth grade level. That's 52% of the population.

And out of that 52%, over half of those (just under 85 million) can't read to a fourth grade level. In contrast, 98% of Cubans can read to a 12th grade level.

[Angrboda]

168,811,352 Americans can't even read to an eighth grade level.  That's 52% of the population.

And out of that 52%, over half of those (just under 85 million) can't read to a fourth grade level.  In contrast, 98% of Cubans can read to a 12th grade level.

That explains the politics in this country.

[ABQ505]

Today, my sourdough starter is more active than yesterday, therefore, today I know that my yeast is farting more than it was yesterday 

[Anomalocaris]

168,811,352 Americans can't even read to an eighth grade level.  That's 52% of the population.

And out of that 52%, over half of those (just under 85 million) can't read to a fourth grade level.  In contrast, 98% of Cubans can read to a 12th grade level.

Interestingly, the last tin pot dictator in the District of Columbia also spoke, and gestured, and thought, and mimed, and raged, and whined, and insulted, at a fourth grade level.   No idea if he could read or write at forth grade level, though.

[pocaracas]

Soon... in Washington DC

[Rev. Rye]

Watching Nick Crowley's new video about Tomorrow's Pioneers. It's somehow even worse than I had originally heard 15 years ago.

Lowlights (put in hide tags because they're legit fucked up): 

---

• Main characters dying in ways even more brutal than I've seen in shows for adults. In a kids' show.
  
• Even more bizarre ripoffs of American cartoon characters besides Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny.
  
• A character gets caught cheating on a test and blames the Jews. In fairness, they point out that this isn't a good excuse for cheating on a test.
  
• Not-Bugs Bunny talking about wanting to cannibalize Jews.
  
• Not-Maya the Bee getting so pissed off at his parents getting imprisoned that he abuses animals, up to and including throwing rocks at a fucking lion. Admittedly, it's in a cage and they use it as an excuse to explain that abusing animals is bad, but still.
  
• Satan telling Not-Bugs to steal from his grandfather's wallet, and his human co-host (a little girl, mind you) saying that he should be be-handed. To their credit, they don't actually go through with it, although the kids calling in say that they should. So, that scene from Aladdin where Jasmine almost loses her hand might actually be a bit more accurate and less Islamophobic than that documentary I saw in college said (though, admittedly, it is a far more hard-line take than usual).
  
• A little girl and Not-Yogi Bear having a debate on the merits of ethnic cleansing the Jews vs. full-on genocide.
  
• The show, slowly but surely, going mask-off and getting children to support full-on suicide bombing.
  
• A particularly horrific scene where they have the children of a female suicide bomber on and subject her to a song/music video/re-enactment of their mother's death that ends with said children announce their plans to follow in their mother's footsteps.
  
• A quote from a Palestinian journalist who gives it a mixed review, claiming that it does teach some good lessons, but finds the anti-Semitism to be "problematic," though it all evens out in his view.
  
• Several seasons beyond those known in the west that only seem to have come to light because Palestinian news orgs tried to paint a cast member who worked on later seasons of the show (and was also a Hamas combatant) as Mister Fucking Rogers. It failed, partly because they happened to mention which show he was on...
  

---

[Fake Messiah]

[Rev. Rye]

The theme song from Frasier? Turns out it's not about food, it's just an oblique reference to Frasier's work as a psychiatrist. The composer was directed to make a song about the show with direct references to neither Frasier's name nor his job.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

In 1915, Cecil Chubb, a wealthy British barrister, bought Stonehenge as a gift for his wife. She hated it (she had sent him out to buy a set of dining chairs) and the purchased cause some friction in their marriage. Partly to keep the peace and partly to keep it from being bought by foreigners, Chubb donated the stone circle to the British government three years later.

Boru